Samsung is set to manufacture Qualcomm's mobile application processor for low-end 5G smartphones.
Earlier this year, Samsung had secured another order from Qualcomm to manufacture a portion of its 5G modem chip X60.
Qualcomm had announced last week that it would bring 5G to affordable smartphones with its upcoming Snapdragon 4 series chipsets.
Qualcomm had said that its goal is to enable over 3.5 billion smartphone users to use 5G globally. The Snapdragon 4 series is designed for budget-friendly and entry-level smartphones.
The introduction of 5G into SoC will surely make the next-generation network technology more affordable and easy to use. Motorola, Oppo and Xiaomi will work with Qualcomm to integrate the Snapdragon 4 series SoC that supports 5G in their smartphones.
The Snapdragon 4 series is embedded in the low to mid-tier fifth-generation mobile platform and the new chipsets are expected to be commercially available next year.
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Qualcomm's plans for Snapdragon 4 series
The expectation is the chipsets will increase 5G demand around the world especially in India and Eastern Europe.
Cristiano Amon, President of Qualcomm, recently said: “Qualcomm continues to pave the way for large-scale 5G commercialization, and the expansion of 5G to our Snapdragon 4 series is expected to solve the current consolidation of approximately 3.5 billion smartphone users.”
Snapdragon 4 series includes Snapdragon 429, Snapdragon 435, Snapdragon 439, Snapdragon 450 and Snapdragon 460. Snapdragon 429 can be found in entry-level phones like Nokia 3.2, while Snapdragon 460 can be found in phones like Nokia. Oppo A53, Vivo Y20 and the rumored upcoming OnePlus phone codenamed “Clover”.
Samsung makes hay, heat is on Chinese firms
This is the third US chip order for Samsung this year. Last month, it secured a deal for manufacturing IBM’s POWER10 chips for next-generation servers. Earlier month, it received an order to make Nvidia’s new RTX 300 series graphics processing units.
As the US chip giants are compelled to cut their ties with Chinese companies, it is proving to be beneficial to Samsung.
Samsung Electronics is also making a slow shift towards the profitable, less-volatile foundry business. But Samsung is trailing Taiwan's TSMC in the race for the foundry chip making.
Samsung is expected to have 17.4% of the global market share during the third quarter, while TSMC is expected to take over 53.9%.
Samsung is also slowly chipping away at the Chinese dominance in equipment supply. Yesterday, Samsung signed a $6.65 billion contract with Verizon Communications for network equipment and services. It is seen as a major boost to the South Korean firm’s quest to become a key 5G supplier.
